CU Boulder students seek to block funds for hate speech

Candidates' initiative comes in wake of Milo Yiannopoulos appearance

Milo Yiannopoulos holds up a sign during his appearance at the University of Colorado on January 25, 2017. (Jeremy Papasso Staff Photographer)

Three University of Colorado students running for tri-executive spots in the upcoming election are hoping to implement a rule change that will allow the student government to deny student fees to speakers who engage in hate speech.

The change to the bylaws of the Student Organization Allocation Committee, which handles student fees, was proposed by the tri-executive candidates from the New Wave for CU ticket.

Lauren Goldfarb, who is running for executive of internal affairs, was on the allocation committee when it was discussing allocating student fees to help pay for a recent visit to campus by Milo Yiannopoulos, who at the time was an editor for the "alt-right" website Breitbart News.

While Yiannopoulos did not charge a speaking fee, the CU College Republicans requested funds from the committee to cover audio and visual equipment for the event, security costs and parking.

Goldfarb, a sophomore, said there was a lengthy discussion about Yiannopoulos, and said she personally was uncomfortable using student fees for a speaker who had been decried by some CU students, employees and Boulder residents as a troll who propagates hate speech.

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"It was hard, at least for myself," Goldfard said. "Milo isn't necessarily a good representation of any political faction, so I felt like we were funding someone who didn't represent the student body."

Milo Yiannopoulos speaks during a news conference Feb. 21 in New York. He resigned that day as editor of Breitbart Tech after coming under fire from other conservatives over comments on sexual relationships between boys and older men. (Mary Altaffer / AP)

"As a board, even when not everyone wanted to fund Milo coming to campus, it was hard because the code has no qualifications about what kind of people can come to campus," Goldfarb said.

Junior Owen McLaughlin, who is running for executive of external affairs on the New Wave ticket, said the Yiannopoulos episode served to highlight a shortcoming in the bylaws the student allocation committee follows. McLaughlin pointed out that any three students could put together a group and then petition student fees to bring anyone they wanted to campus.

"No matter how extreme they were, SOAC, as it stands, would have literally no standing to deny the request," McLaughlin said.

So the New Wave ticket is proposing a change to the bylaws that would allow SOAC to deny a request for student fees for speakers the deemed engaged in "hate speech." In this case, hate speech would be narrowly defined as "speech that threatens or insults groups based on race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or disability."

The committee would have the final say over which speakers met the definition, and student groups would be able to appeal the decision.

"I think that this added bylaw would allow clarity for the board," Goldfarb said. "Especially because the SOAC code is so new. There's always room for additions to make it more specific and to help future boards."

McLaughlin said the change is not a direct response to Yiannopoulos or a political move.

"We're not even sure this would have prevented Milo from speaking," McLaughlin said. "This isn't about right or left. This is about giving them options."

The third member of the ticket, freshman Jared Moya, pointed out that student groups can still bring speakers to campus even if they don't get student fees to help fund the appearance as long as they abide by the university's general rules.

CU spokeswoman Deborah Mendez-Wilson said the university would not comment on the proposal at this time.

"The university does not have a position on issues or proposals introduced by students running for seats in student government," Mendez-Wilson said. "As we do every year, Student Affairs and other campus administrators look forward to working with the students who emerge as new campus leaders to learn more about their goals."

Moya said that if elected in April, the ticket would hope to make the change to the bylaws by the summer.

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